RIYL: Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi, Amanda Palmer, Regina Spektor, PJ Harvey
British singer/songwriter Gemma Ray crafts an engaging and unique set of pop songs on her fourth LP ‘Island Fire’. Ray actually began recording the album in 2010 after the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull snarled air travel and left her grounded in Australia for a period of time. Eventually released in May 2012, the album contains some of Ray’s most mature and catchy songwriting to date. Sonically, the songs are solidly pop, but heavy doses of retro doo-wop, blues, folk, spaghetti-western elements and orchestration create a unique sound that makes it difficult to compare Ray’s efforts to other contemporary artists.
Although Ray has taken heat at times for packing too much into her songs, tracks like “Fire House” and “Flood and a Fire” are anything but over-the-top and feel wonderfully natural and unforced. A gently picked guitar anchors both tracks, while piano and organ overlays add depth and various atmospherics set the mood. Gemma never disappoints lyrically or vocally, cooing with a slight accent and penning smart and seductive lovelorn tales.
“Alight! Alive!” starts the album on an optimistic note with soaring violins and rousing timpani, but it’s a bit of a feint, as most of the album plumbs darker and more contemplative moods. “Make it Happen”, the longest offering here, starts soft and builds into a surging psychedelia full of guitar, violin and a steady wash of organ with lyrics verging on the existential as Ray sings “Something will come/ Out of something/ Time will come.” It’s a definite highlight, as is “How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?”, a complex pop-masterwork full of thrilling piano runs and irresistibly snarky emoting.
It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but “Carnegie Hall” is wildly innovative and catchy, full of odd pathos and just the right amount of playful histrionics. Ray simultaneously celebrates and laments her highbrow yearnings, asking herself that age-old question “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” and answering with the obvious “Practice man, practice!” The knockout blow is her realization that these endeavors mean practically nothing in the absence of her lover. She’s happy that the critics like her but decides “…It doesn’t mean a thing/ Still there is no sign of you”.
It was easily one of the best songs of 2012. It will lodge itself within your head. It will change you. And there are plenty of others on ‘Island Fire’ that might just do the same thing.
